Donald E. Westlake’s great comic suspense novel won MWA’s Edgar Award in 1967. Con men descend upon its gullible hero when he comes into a $317,000 inheritance but Fred Fitch, as lovable as he is naive, stumbles to victory. Westlake’s earlier novel “The Fugitive Pigeon” virtually originated the modern comic-suspense genre so brilliantly refined in this later work.
If you’re not familiar with Westlake’s hilarious capers, this is his first and great place to start!
Fred Fitch is a con artist’s wet dream. He seems to radiate an aura of gullibility that any and every grifter can see or sense: “Con men take one look at me, streamline their pitches, and soon go gaily off to steak dinners while poor Fred Fitch sits at home and once again dines on gnawed fingernail.” It has been this way for him since his …